Two months after residency
requirements kept him from claiming a seat on the city council, Mathieu
Eugene won Brooklyn’s 40th District city council seat in a special
election Tuesday.
As of Tuesday night, with 100 percent of the precincts reporting,
Eugene had 51 percent of the votes, defeating Harry Schiffman and
Wellington Sharpe, who split the remaining votes with about 25 percent
each.
In February Eugene won the election but could not be sworn in
because he failed to show documents proving his residency in the
district at the time of the election.
Eugene, who is taking the seat vacated by Congresswoman Yvette
Clarke, will become the first Haitian-American to hold a City Council
seat.
Just over 5,000 people turned out to vote.